In the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival in 2018, about 500 films were shown, but they still could not meet the needs of moviegoers. At 8:00 a.m. on June 9, the film festival began to pre-sell movie tickets online. In just a few seconds, the tickets for the Japanese movie "The Thief Family", which just won the Cannes Award, were snatched up.
Don't say "The Thief Family", I think to myself, I can't get popular screenings like "Mission Impossible", so I will pay attention to those movies that are not so familiar from the title to the creator here. For example, the film "Bookstore" co-produced by the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany.
The story takes place in the English town of Harburg in 1959.
Her love at first sight husband left her during World War II, and Florence lives alone in a small town. When the loneliness was unbearable, she would sit by the sea with a book until the sun went down.
Mr. Browndig, who was deeply in love with marriage, hid in his own manor, Holt House, in a small town after he broke up, letting the town residents arrange his wife's whereabouts, and immersed himself in reading blindly.
Many people will think that the story of "The Bookstore" goes like this: Sitting on the beach reading interesting and meaningful books, the idea of opening a bookstore arises spontaneously in Florence's mind. After the opening of the bookstore, Florence has a connection with Mr. Browndish, who is claustrophobic after a failed marriage. Using the book as a medium, the fire of love is rekindled in the hearts of the lonely man and the widow, and the two happy people work together during the day. The only bookstore in the town for many years, they returned to the Holt House together at night. The Holt House, which had been silent for a long time, was full of laughter and laughter ever since.
In the movie, when Florence turns the old house in the town into a bookstore, she does use the book as a medium to pick up a conversation with Mr. Browndig, who never talks to the townspeople. Florence had recommended Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", thinking that Mr. Brondig had already read the novels of the three Brontë sisters, but this did not prevent her from disliking the works of the Brontë sisters. Mr. Blondish, in the 1990s, determined that Florence was a bookstore operator with an unusual literary taste.
What kind of writer is Ray Bradbury, who can win over Mr. Browndig, who has read almost all of English literature, with a single book, and by the way also add to Florence's weight in Mr. Browndig's heart? Ray Bradbury is a master of contemporary science fiction, and his 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 is his masterpiece. In this novel, criticized by the literary world as dystopian, Ray Bradbury tells the story of Guy Montag, a firefighter who burns banned books. Guy Montag has had fun watching pages burn to ashes in the 10+ years he's been doing this work. One day, Guy Montag met a 17-year-old girl, and through the girl he met a group of people who all had amazing memory, and can deeply remember books that burn after they are finished. Having been with this special group of people for a long time, Guy Montag realized that they are "just like ordinary people, like after a long journey, after a long search, they have seen beautiful things burned down, and now they are gone. Old and old, gathered together to wait for the end of the song, and the lights are running out. They are not sure that what they have written in their minds will make every future sunrise shine more pure, they are not sure about it . . but they do know that those books are stored behind their peaceful eyes, intact, waiting to be flipped by readers with clean or dirty fingers someday." Ray Bradbury's passage through "Fahrenheit 451" protagonist Guy Montag, like a faint fire, was passed on by Florence to the book-loving bookworm in 1959. Mr. Browndig, more than half a century later, passed on to us through a film "The Bookstore", which is especially thought-provoking.
What era are we in? It was a time when there were no more firefighters like Guy Montag, when there were no more publications, and when there was a lack of a 17-year-old girl and her comrades. The movie "Bookstore" is based on the novel of the same name published by contemporary British female writer Penelope Fitzgerald in 1974. The author's fictional British town of Harburg and the attitudes of the residents in the town towards books will be inspired by Wouldn't it come from her feelings? Britons in the 1970s were far less obsessed with books than their grandparents! If so, if Penelope Fitzgerald is still alive, it will be even more disappointing. In 2017, when the movie was released, people's relationship with reading has gradually drifted away.
Is it to complement Florence's old house bookstore? As far as the film's expression is concerned, "Bookstore" seems a bit outdated. It tells the story of a bookstore from opening to being destroyed by the rabble in the small town. Even the love scene that may make the audience's heart flutter is also blunt. Only willing to let it show its clues will be stillborn. What exactly does this movie, dubbed "bookstore", want the audience to see?
It wants the audience to see that books—perhaps, literature is more apt—can give a person the spiritual power. It's just that this movie, which doesn't care about the high and low profile, will follow the original book so faithfully. After the less popular and popular "Fahrenheit 451", it chose the more advanced Nabokov's "Lolita" to assert the value of literature.
Florence, who had the honor to walk into Holt's House because of Mr. Brondig's appreciation for Fahrenheit 451, invited Mr. Brondig to help her decide if she could put 250 copies of Lowe in her little bookstore. Rita", when I saw the movie, my heart went to Florence's throat.
Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita", first published in 1955, became a hot topic in the literary world as soon as it was published because of its shocking content. More than half a century later, especially through a Chinese translation of a film titled "A Tree of Pears Pressing Begonias", after more Chinese readers know that there is such an outstanding and important novel in the history of world literature, we talk about "Lolita". , just like the famous first sentence of the novel "Lo-Li-Ta; the tip of the tongue has to be moved down from the palate three times, and the third time it is lightly attached to the teeth: Lo-Li-Ta", always called people Hesitant to speak. In 1959, Florence wanted to promote a novel that had just been lifted in the United States to a closed, snobbish town. What if there was a strong recommendation from Mr. Browndig, a reading expert? Still not waiting for readers with clean or dirty fingers to flip through.
A copy of "Lolita", which was in the window of the old house bookstore and on the bookshelf, did not wait for the people in the town to read it. The bookstore, also under the power of the lady, Mrs. Gamart, had to close. No matter the novel or the movie, the ending of "Bookstore" is very sad: the small bookstore opened by Florence, who was alone, overcame many obstacles, there is no more; the mutual affection with Mr. Browndig has just begun to show signs of love. It ended with the unexpected death of Mr. Browndig.
Are British, Spanish and German filmmakers choosing 2017 for a story written in 1974 that mirrors a small-town British bookstore in 1959, bemoaning a reader who can’t wait for a reader with clean or dirty fingers to flip through Lolita "The era is coming? It's not unfounded, but the world has never lost its warmth. Look, that little girl named Kristen Gippin! Just because she had been Florence's assistant for several months, the girl who claimed she would not like books, when Florence had to abandon the bookstore and leave the town, she used the book according to the sense of justice she had learned from the books. The stove ignited and burned down the bookstore that belonged to Mrs. Garmart. As for making grown-up Kristen the owner of a bookstore, it was Penelope Fitzgerald and the creators of the film "The Bookstore" who believed that the likes of "Fahrenheit 451" and "Lolita" Classics, one day can wait for readers with clean or dirty fingers. You see, Christine, who doesn't like books, doesn't have to be in the company of books?
If you hadn't watched the movie Florence's efforts for the bookstore, few people would believe that some difficult classics like "Fahrenheit 451" and "Lolita" can still wait to get used to the screen speed. new readers. However, in the almost full movie theater, no one pulled away when the subtitles of the creators were slowly raised on the screen, and at the moment when the lights came on, the applause sounded like waves, making us believe that literature will always be— — Year after year, what do we see at the Shanghai International Film Festival? I saw a movie like "Bookstore" and felt the poetry awakened by a movie like "Bookstore".
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